380 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



long teeth like oiivs. The laborer stands upon the 

 top of it, and its use is to break down and pulverise 

 the surface of the muddy soil, and to press in the 

 manure. Previously to the preparation of the 

 fields, the rice seed is sown thickly in small patches 

 of highlj' manured frround, and the young plants in 

 these seed beds are ready for transplanting when 

 the fields are in a fit state to receive them. Some- 

 times, especially in the south, the seeds are pre- 

 viously steeped in liquid manure. The seedling 

 plants are carefully dug up from the bed, and re- 

 moved to the fields. The fields are now smooth 

 and overflowed with water to the depth of three 

 inches. The operation of planting is performed 

 with great rapidity. A laborer takes a quantity of 

 plants under his left arm, and drops them in bun- 

 dles over the land about to be planted, as he knows 

 almost to a plant what number will be required. 

 These bundles are then taken up in succession. A 

 dozen plants are selected at a time, and plunged by 

 the hand into the muddy soil. The water, when 

 the hand is drawn up. immediately rushes into the 

 hole, and carries with it a portion of soil to cover 

 the roots, and the seedlings are thus planted and 

 covered in without further trouble. In the south, 

 the first crop is fit to cut by the end of June or the 

 beginning of July. Before it is quite ripe, another 

 crop of seedlings is raised in the beds or corners of 

 the fields, and is ready for transplanting as soon as 

 the ground has been ploughed up and prepared for 

 their reception. This second crop is ready for cut- 

 ting in November. In the north, where the sum- 

 mer is shorter, a different plan is followed. The 

 farmers here plant a second crop two or three weeks 

 after the first, in alternate rows. The first plant- 

 ing takes place about the middle of May, and the 

 crop is reaped about the beginning of August. Af- 

 ter the early crop is removed, the ground is stirred 

 up and manured, and the second crop comes to 

 maturity about the middle of November. In the 

 Shanghai district, the summers are too short to get 

 two crops of rice, but an autumn crop of vegeta- 

 bles is not unfrequent. Rain falls in great abun- 

 dance during the change of the monsoon in May, and 

 the Chinese are very expert at irrigation , so that dur- 

 ing the growth of the rice, the fields are flooded with 

 water. The terraced bases and sides of the hills 

 are supplied with water by mountain streams, and 

 the valleys by canals, the water being raised by a 

 simple but very effective water wheel. The moun- 

 tain terraces, which rise one above another like the 

 steps of a stair, are so constructed both for facili- 

 tating the process of irrigation, and for preventing 

 the mountain torrents from washing down the soil. 

 North British Review. 



Nanking Cotton-growing. — The Chinese or 

 Nanking Cotton plant — the Gossypium herbaceum 

 of botanists, and the Mie wha of the northern Chi- 

 nese — is a branching annual, growing from one to 

 three feet in height, according to the richness of 

 the soil, and flowering from August to October. 

 The flowers are of a dingy yellow colour, and re- 

 main expanded only for a few hours. They are 

 followed by the seed pod which swells rapidly, and 

 when ripe, the outer coating bursts, and exposes 

 the pure white cotton, in which the seeds of the 



plant lie imbedded. The yellow cotton, from which 

 the beautiful Nanking cloth is made, is called 

 " Tze-mie-xoha" and difl^ers little, except in color, 

 from the other variety. The latter is chiefly culti- 

 vated in level ground, around Shanghai, in a strong 

 rich loamy soil, capable of yielding immense crops 

 year after year, although it receives but a small 

 portion of manure. Early in spring, the cotton 

 grounds are ploughed up, and manured with a rich 

 mud dug from the drains and ditches. In the end 

 of April or beginning of May, the cotton seed is 

 sown, generally in broadcast, and trodden by the 

 feet of laborers into the soil. The spring rains 

 now commence, and the vegetation of the cotton 

 makes rapid progress. During the summer months, 

 the plants are carefully thinned and hoed. Much 

 now depends on the season. If dry, the plants are 

 stinted ; but if refreshing rains fall, the crop proves 

 a good one. The cotton plant produces its flowers 

 in succession, from August to the end of October, 

 and even in mild seasons, during November. As a 

 succession of pods burst every day, it is necessary 

 to have them gathered with great regularity, other- 

 wise they fall upon the ground, and are spoiled. 

 Little bands of the Chinese are now seen in the af- 

 ternoon in every field, gathering the ripe cotton, 

 and carrying it home to the houses of the farmers. 

 As the farms are generally small, they are worked 

 ttlmost entirely by the farmer and his family, con- 

 sisting sometimes of three or even four generations, 

 including the old grey-haired grandfather, or great- 

 grandfather, who has seen the crops of fourscore 

 years gathered into his barns. Every member of 

 such group has a certain degree of interest in his 

 employment. The harvest is their own, and the 

 more productive it is, the greater number of com- 

 forts they will be able to afford. In such a delicate 

 article as cotton, much of the success of the crop 

 depends upon a dry and mild autumn ; for wet and 

 cold are both inimical to it. When the cotton crop 

 is brought from the field, it is spread out to dry, and 

 then it undergoes a process to separate the seeds, 

 which is done by passing it through a machine with 

 two rollers. It is then put into bags, which, slung 

 across a bamboo stick, are thus carried into the 

 towns on the shoulders of the farmers, and dispos 

 ed of to the cotton merchant. Every family re- 

 tains a portion of the produce for its own use, and 

 this the female members clean, spin and weave at 

 home. The spinning-wheel and the hand-loom, 

 both once so common in this country, are still in 

 use in China, and to be seen in every village in the 

 cotton districts. The cotton stalks are used as 

 fuel, the refuse as manure, and the cleared fields 

 are immediately planted with clover, beans or 

 other vegetables for a second crop. Ibid. 



To DESTROY MoLES. — I recently met with an 

 eflieacious mode of destroying moles. The direc- 

 tions I am about to give appeared in the form of a 

 letter, in the " Sportsman's Magazine," a very cre- 

 ditable London periodical. The letter is short, so 

 I quote it entire : — 



" Sir — A correspondent of yours, some weeks 

 since, put a query on this subject, which I have not 

 seen answered, and perhaps you will find a corner 

 for the following. I will answer for its efficacy. 



